CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS:
A BILL OF RIGHTS
Revised, Summer 2005
San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership
(formerly SFPIP)
Supported by the Zellerbach Family Foundation

The San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (SFCIPP) is a coalition of social service providers, representatives of government bodies, advocates and others who work with or are concerned about children of incarcerated parents and their families. Formed in 2000 under the auspices of the Zellerbach Family Foundation, SFCIPP works to improve the lives of children of incarcerated parents, and to increase awareness of these children, their needs and their strengths.

After studying the issues affecting these children and their families, SFCIPP members agreed that a children’s perspective was the logical framework from which all future work should evolve. We understand that children’s rights and needs may sometimes conflict with, and must
be balanced against, institutional concerns and requirements, but believe
it is essential to start from the child’s perspective and work on what is
possible from there.

The bill of rights that follows is derived from the experience of Gretchen Newby, executive director of Friends Outside—who drafted the original bill of rights on which this one is based—in working with families affected by incarceration, and from interviews conducted by journalist Nell Bernstein with over 30 young people who have experienced parental
incarceration (the names of those interviewed have been changed). It also relies on the research and conclusions of Charlene Simmons of the California Research Bureau and Peter Breen of the Child Welfare League of America, and derives in great part from the ongoing conversation that has been taking place among SFCIPP members under the guidance of Ellen Walker of the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, Cassie Pierson, and Ellen Walker provided editorial guidance.